Google Glass disappears from social media, consumer version dies

Google has closed down the social media accounts formerly used to promote its Google Glass wearable computer. The consumer edition of the headset has been abandoned in favour of a business-centric version called "Glass: Enterprise Edition."

9to5Google noticed the vanishing of Google Glass' social media accounts earlier this week. Its profiles on networks including Twitter, Instagram and Google+ have been wiped entirely and then deleted, removing Glass from the public eye.

The Google Glass name is no longer used as the headset has been withdrawn from public sale. Instead, Google has specialised the technology and built it into something aimed squarely at the workplace. It thinks wearable computers like Glass: Enterprise Edition can increase productivity by keeping information in the wearer's line-of-sight.

The original Google Glass quickly became popular with fans of emerging technology. With apps overlaid on the world around the user, Glass made using digital devices simpler. Whether walking around a city with a map in the corner of your eye or keeping a Twitter feed pinned to the edge of your vision, Glass aimed to avoid the distraction that looking down at a smartphone causes.

The concept caught on and people were soon enthusiastically waiting to join the Glass Explorer program. The tide quickly turned against the headset though as it became apparent it was launched ahead of its time. Glass became tangled in the centre of privacy complaints and covert filming concerns as the potential of a head-mounted inconspicuous camera began to be felt by the world.

File picture shows attendees wearing Google Glass while posing for a group photo during the Google 2013 developer conference in San Francisco, California

Justin Sullivan, Getty/AFP/File

Glass wearers were banned from cinemas in the U.S. and U.K. as film companies worried that audience members could easily record whole screenings to illegally distribute online. Other public places that have banned Glass include hospitals, concert venues, restaurants and casinos, restricting its usefulness by forcing the wearer to take it off when they reach their destination.

Some rumours suggest Google is still working on a new version of Glass but it is unclear whether the device will return to the consumer space in the next few years. To many, Glass remains technology of the future and society has yet to catch up with Google's research department.

Meanwhile, Glass: Enterprise Edition is still very much alive and is likely to become more widely available this year. Google has been testing it with limited customers but still hasn't publicly revealed its hardware details or what the refined headset is capable of. Glass: Enterprise Edition is thought to include an Intel Atom processor and lighter-weight design, making it both more powerful and more comfortable when used all day in an office.